Jeremiah Delivers A Prophecy About Zedekiah

Disobedience to G-d’s command and its consequences.

You cannot outsmart G-d, for He knows the true intent of your heart.

Repentance is encouraged. Live a changed life thereafter.

“Prophecy Concerning Zedekiah”

“Punishment For Violating G-d’s Covenant”

“Thus said Hashem, God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and say to him: Thus said Hashem: Behold, I am delivering this city into the hand of the king of Babylonia, and he will burn it in fire.
34:2
The word that came to Jeremiah from Hashem, after king Zedekiah sealed a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim freedom for them,
:8
that every man send forth his bondsman and his bondswoman — a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman — as freemen, so that no man should enslave his fellow Jew.
:9
.. they hearkened and they sent them off.
:10
But they reneged after that and brought back the bondsmen and the bondswomen whom they had sent forth as freemen and subjugated them as bondsmen and bondswomen.
:11
‘At the outset of the seventh year, each of you shall send forth his Hebrew brother who will have been sold to you; he shall serve you for six years and then you shall send him forth free from yourself’: but your forefathers did not hearken to Me, nor incline their ear.
:14
Today you repented and did what is just in My eyes, for every man proclaim freedom for his fellow, and you sealed a covenant before Me in the Temple upon which My Name is proclaimed.
:15
But you reneged and desecrated My Name, and every man brought back his bondsman and every man his bondswoman whom you had sent forth free on their own, and you subjugated them to be bondsmen and bondswomen to you.
:16
Therefore, thus said Hashem: you did not hearken to Me to proclaim freedom, every man for his brother and every man for his fellow; behold, I proclaim you to be free — the word of Hashem — for the sword, for pestilence and for famine; and I shall make you an object of horror for all the kingdoms of the earth.
:17
I shall deliver the people who violated My covenant, who did not uphold the words of the covenant that they sealed before Me through the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts.
:18
Behold, I am commanding — the word of Hashem: I shall return them to this city and they shall make war against it, conquer it, and burn it in fire; and I shall make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
:22

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord-when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the land of his rule and all the peoples were waging war against Jerusalem and against all its cities-saying:
2 So said the Lord God of Israel, Go and say to Zedekiah king of Judah, and you shall say to him: So said the Lord: Behold I deliver this city into the hand[s] of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
3 And you shall not escape from his hand[s], for you shall surely be seized, and you shall be delivered into his hand[s], and your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with your mouth, and you shall come to Babylon.
4 But hearken to the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah. So said the Lord concerning you; You shall not die by the sword.
5 You shall die in peace, and with the burnings of your forefathers, the first kings, who were before you, they shall burn for you, and “Ah lord” shall they lament you, for I have spoken a word, says the Lord.
6 And Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah all these words in Jerusalem.
7 And the army of the king of Babylon was waging war against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah, against Lachish and against Azekah, because they were the fortified cities left among the cities of Judah.
8 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim freedom to them;
9 That every man should let his manservant and every man his maidservant, a Jew and a Jewess go free, that none should hold his Jewish brother as a slave.
10 Now all the princes and all the people who had entered into the covenant hearkened that every one should let his manservant and everyone his maidservant go free, no longer holding them in slavery; then they obeyed and let them go.
11 But afterwards they turned and brought back the manservants and the maidservants whom they had let free, and forcibly made them into manservants and maidservants.
12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:
13 So says the Lord God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers on the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves, saying:
14 “At the end of seven years you shall let go every man his brother Jew who has been sold to you, and when he has served you for six years you shall let him go free from you”; but your forefathers did not obey Me, nor did they incline their ear[s].
15 And now this day you turned and did what was right in My sight by proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before Me in the House upon which My Name is called.
16 But then you turned and profaned My Name, and you took back, each man his manservant and each man his maidservant, whom you had let free to themselves, and forced them to be manservants and maidservants to you.
17 Therefore, so says the Lord: You have not hearkened to Me to proclaim freedom, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor; behold I proclaim freedom to you, says the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine, and I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
18 And I will deliver the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not kept the words of the covenant which they made before Me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts.
19 The princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the officers and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf.
20 I will deliver them into the hand[s] of their enemies and into the hand[s] of those who seek their lives, and their dead bodies shall become food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth.
21 And Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his princes I will deliver into the hand[s] of their enemies and into the hand[s] of those who seek their lives, and into the hand[s] of the army of the king of Babylon who have gone up away from you.
22 Behold I command, says the Lord, and I will return them to this city, and they shall fight against it and capture it, and burn it with fire, and the cities of Judah I will make desolate without an inhabitant.